The virtual machines (VMs) present in a VMware ESX/ESXi server are monitored based on the parameters or the attributes listed below. These attributes provide information about the functioning of the VMs. You can also configure thresholds to the numerical attributes of the VMs based on these details.
Click on the individual monitors listed to view detailed performance metrics of the corresponding virtual machine. These metrics are categorized into 6 separate tabs for easy understanding. Below is an explanation of the metrics shown in these tabs:
This tab provides a high-level overview of the virtual machine as well as its resource utilization.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Monitor Information | |
| Name | The name of the virtual machine |
| Type | Denotes the type you are monitoring. |
| Health | Denotes the health (Clear, Warning, Critical) status of the VM. |
| Last Polled at | Specifies the time at which the last poll was performed. |
| Next Poll at | Specifies the time at which the next poll is scheduled. |
| Availability | Shows the current status of the VM - available or not available. |
| CPU & Memory Utilization | |
| CPU Utilization | The CPU Usage of the VM as percentage |
| CPU Usage | The CPU usage in Mega Hertz |
| Memory Utilization | The memory utilization of theVM in percentage |
| CPU Ready | The percentage of time that the virtual machine was ready, but could not be scheduled to run on the physical CPU (in ms). |
| CPU Wait | Total CPU time spent in wait state (in ms). |
| Disk & Network Usage | |
| Disk I/O Utilization | The disk input/output utilization of the VM (in KBps). |
| Network Utilization | The network usage of the VM (in KBps). |
This tab shows metrics about the memory utilization of the virtual machine
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Active Memory | Amount of memory that is actively used, measured as recently touched pages (in MB). |
| Overhead Memory | Amount of additional host memory allocated to the virtual machine. |
| Swapped Memory | Amount of memory that is swapped. |
| Shared Memory | Amount of memory that is shared between virtual machines. |
| Ballooned Memory | Amount of memory held by memory control for ballooning. |
| Granted Memory | Amount of physical memory granted. For hosts this can be represented as regions of memory for each virtual machine. |
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Datastore | Name of the datastore |
| Type | Type of datastore (Example: VMFS or VMware File System) |
| Capacity GB | The total space available in this datastore (in GB). |
| Used GB | The used space of this datastore (in GB). |
| Free GB | The free space of this datastore (in GB). |
| Utilization % | Percentage of used space in this datastore |
| Free Space % | Percentage of free space in this datastore |
| Health | Overall health of the datastore |
| Read Rate | Rate of reading data from the datastore (in KBps). |
| Write Rate | Rate of writing data to the datastore (in KBps). |
| Read Latency | The average time a read from the datastore takes (in ms). |
| Write Latency | The average time a write to the datastore takes (ms) |
The metrics in this category contain the VM network status details.
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| Network Interface | |
| Name | Name of the Network Interface Card (NIC) |
| IP Address | The ip address of the NIC |
| Mac Address | The Mac address of the NIC |
| Network | The name of the network |
| Health | Indicates the health of the Network Interface Card |
| Network Interface Utilization | |
| Name | Name of the network inteface card(NIC) of the host |
| Data Receive Rate | The rate at which this NIC receives data (in KBps). |
| Data Transmit Rate | The rate at which this NIC transfers data (in KBps). |
| Packets Received | Number of network packets received by this NIC |
| Packets Transmitted | Number of network packets transmitted by this NIC |
| Health | Overall health of this NIC |
This tab shows detailed disk stats of the virtual machine
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| LUN | Logical unit number associated with the physical disk |
| Disk Read Rate | Disk read rate of this LUN (in KBps). |
| Disk Write Rate | Disk write rate of this LUN (in KBps). |
| Disk Reads | Number of reads to this LUN during the defined interval |
| Disk Writes | Number of writes to this LUN during the defined interval |
| Health | Overall health of this LUN |
| Commands Aborted | Number of SCSI commands aborted during the collection interval |
| Bus Resets | Number of SCSI-bus reset commands issued during the collection interval |
| Guest Disk Partitions | |
| Disk Partition | Name of the partition |
| Capacity | Capacity of the Disk Partition (in GB). |
| Free | Free Space available in the Partition (in GB). |
| Used | Used Space in the Partition (in GB). |
| Utilization % | Percentage of used space in this datastore |
| Free Space % | Percentage of free space in this datastore |
| Parameter | Description |
|---|---|
| UUID | Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) which is stored in the SMBIOS system information descriptor. |
| Instance UUID | Universal Unique Identifier (UUID) assigned by the VCenter/ESx. Used for virtualization management purposes. |
| OS Name | Operating System assigned to the VM |
| Power | The status of the power of the virtual machine (poweredOn, poweredOff, suspend) |
| VM Path Name | Path name to the configuration file for the virtual machine, e.g. the .vmx file. This also implicitly defines the configuration directory. |
| IP Address | The IP address assigned to the VM |
| Host Name | The host on which the VM is running |
| Boot time | The time when the VM was booted. |
| Tools Version | Current version of VMware Tools running |
| Number of CPUs | Number of CPUs present in the VM |
| Configured Memory | The amount of memory configured for this VM |
| Number of Virtual Disks | The number of virtual disks in the VM |
